Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic won the tournament of champions for the sixth time and equaled the record of Swiss Roger Federer.
The 35-year-old native of Belgrade defeated Nor Casper Ruud 7:5, 6:3 in the final in Turin and won the biggest one-time prize in the history of tennis. As the unbeaten winner, he received a check for 4,740,300 dollars (more than 111 million kroner).
Djokovic and Ruud did not lose a set even in their fourth match against each other. The final event of the season on the ATP Tour was dominated by the eighth player in the world ranking already in 2008 and 2012 to 2015 and is also its youngest winner.
“I’ve been waiting for this for seven years, that’s why today’s victory is sweeter,” Djokovic gushed. When he won the prestigious trophy, he crowned a season in which he lost the Australian Open and the US Open, but won Wimbledon, due to his rejection of the covid-19 vaccination.
“I was tired of waiting to see if I was going to play in the tournament or not. It’s a relief and a satisfaction,” the owner of 21 Grand Slam titles and world No. 1 sighed. .
Against Ruud, he used two break points out of five, offering him none himself. The first set was decided not to win service in the twelfth game, the second in the fourth.
“The little things made the difference. We both served well, Casper played excellent from the start. But I stayed focused the whole time. I’m very satisfied,” Djokovic gloated.
With his sixth triumph in the championship, he broke with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. He may even surpass Federer, as the Swiss legend retires in September.
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury won the doubles for the preceding at the Champions League. In today’s final, the American-British team defeated Croatians Nikola Mektič and Ante Pavič 7:6 and 6:4.
Ram and Salisbury won the first set in a tie-break with a ratio of 7:4. They decided the second set at the beginning, when they took the lead 3:1 and kept the advantage until the end. They lost only two sets in five matches en route to the triumph.
The 38-year-old Ram won the title in the last event of the season in his third attempt. Last year, he failed with Salisbury, for whom he was then a final premiership appearance. In 2016, he failed to reach the final along with South African Raven Klaasen.
Tennis Champions of Turin (hard surface, $14.75 million endowment):
Singles – Final: Djokovic (7-Serb) – Ruud (3-Nor.) 7:5, 6:3.
Doubles – Final: Ram, Salisbury (2-USA/Brit.) – Mektic, Pavic (4-Croatia) 7:6 (7:4), 6:4.